Record 117 Nittany Lions earn fall Academic All-Big Ten accolades

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State student-athletes toppled another school academic record with the release of the 2017 Fall Academic All-Big Ten recipients. Penn State tallied 117 fall honorees, shattering the previous fall mark of 100 set during the 2012-13 academic year.

Two Penn Staters earned perfect 4.0 grade-point average — football student-athletes Blake Gillikin and Cody Hodgens. Penn State was the only Big Ten school with multiple football student-athletes posting a 4.0 GPA.

Women’s soccer student-athlete Emily Ogle and women’s volleyball’s Haleigh Washington were selected CoSIDA second-team Academic All-Americans in addition to their academic all-conference accolades.

Five Penn State fall squads broke their previous record for Academic All-Big Ten honorees:

Women’s cross country — 17 (previous high: 14; 2012)
Field hockey — 17 (previous high: 16; 2012, 2016)
Football —35 (previous high: 28; 2012)
Men’s soccer — 15 (previous high: 13; 2016)
Women’s soccer — 20 (previous high: 17; 2004)

The Big Ten champion women’s volleyball team had nine Academic All-Big Ten honorees, one away from its record of 10, and the men’s cross country squad had four to complete Penn State’s record total of 117. The Nittany Lions’ 117 Academic All-Big Ten honorees this fall ranked No. 3 among all conference institutions.

Penn State is second among all Big Ten institutions with 5,992 Academic All-Big Ten honorees since 1991-92, its first year of competition in some Big Ten sports. Ohio State, which has 36 varsity sports, is just four ahead of the Nittany Lions with 5,996 since 1991-92.

The Big Ten Conference recognized a total of 1,257 students competing in fall sports by naming them to the Academic All-Conference team. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be on a varsity team, as verified by being on the official squad list as of Nov. 1 for fall sports, who have been enrolled full time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.